“Monilinia fructicola as a Driver of Fungal Dysbiosis and Microbial Network Disruption in Prunus persica,” by Elsa Baltazar et al. Read the article to learn more: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-02-25-0062-R

Ying Tan et al. established the M28 locus as an efficient species discrimination barcode for cost-effective, high-throughput species diversity assessments in the #Colletotrichum gloeosporioides species complex. Learn more: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-07-24-0239-SC

“Spatiotemporal Detection of the Cranberry False Blossom Disease-Associated Phytoplasma,” by Casey Trickle et al.: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-10-24-0306-R

Banana bunchy top disease (BBTD) has been reported in southwestern Rwanda since the 1980s. Svetlana V. Gaidashova et al. surveyed suspected areas of the country for BBTD. Farmers’ interviews revealed a critical need for awareness and training on BBTD: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-04-25-0135-R

Research from Connor G. Hendrich et al. offers valuable insight into how soil organic matter and nutrient uptake influence citrus health under huanglongbing (HLB), and reveals molecular mechanisms driving differential citrus responses to HLB: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-03-25-0088-R

“Transcriptomic Validation of the Infectious Full-Length Clone of Citrus Tristeza Virus for Its Use as a Viral Vector,” by Yagyaraj Joshi et al. Learn more: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-05-25-0181-R

Saffron is the world's most expensive spice. Hamid Abachi et al. isolated, identified, and characterized bacterial agents associated with saffron corm decay and soft rot in Iran. Learn more: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-04-25-0153-SC

Dhirendra Niroula et al. analyzed protease inhibitors in three #solanaceous crops and identified potential candidates for #phytopathogen and plant pest management. Learn more: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-04-25-0147-R

Editor’s Pick: “A Reassessment of the Etiology of Late Blight Epidemics in the Indian Plains Reveals that Asymptomatic Seed Potatoes Are the Principal Source of Disease Spread,” by Tanmoy Dey et al.: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-10-24-0326-R

Elymus trachycaulus is a perennial species highly resistant to stripe rust and leaf rust. Xiaolu Wang et al. created a stripe rust- and leaf rust-resistant wheat–E. trachycaulus translocation line with reduced 1HtS alien chromatin. Learn more: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-08-24-0264-R

Xin Deng et al. explore the underlying in vitro antifungal mechanisms of hinokitiol and assess its efficacy in controlling sour rot development on navel oranges infected by Geotrichum citri-aurantii. Learn more: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-03-25-0119-R

“Comparative Transcriptomic Analysis of Soybean Recombinant Inbred Lines Differing at the Rmi1 Locus for Resistance to Meloidogyne incognita During Early Stages of Nematode Infection,” by Kelly Goode and Melissa G. Mitchum. Read the open access article: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-04-25-0143-SC

“It brings back many memories of my early days as PhD student and postdoc. Excellent selection of many key papers. I hope this helps to bring the many groundbreaking papers back into the sunlight.” —Jos Raaijmakers (Netherlands Institute of Ecology) https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/landmarksphyto

“The Sirtuin Family FvSIRT5 and FvSIR2 Are Important for Fumonisin B Biosynthesis and Conidiation in Fusarium verticillioides,” by Cui Yang et al. Learn more: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-10-24-0308-R

Jaeyeong Han et al. identified a quantitative trait locus associated with resistance to Meloidogyne incognita in the wild perennial Glycine latifolia. Learn more: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-06-24-0181-R

Nofar Assoline et al. provide novel insights into the role of plant hormones in ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’ pathogenesis and highlight new strategies for managing carrot yellows disease. Explore the research: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-04-25-0121-R

“A Case Study for Visual Detection of a Systemic Disease: Optimizing Identification of Phony Peach Disease Based on Statistical and Machine Learning Models,” by Weiqi Luo et al. Learn more: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-03-25-0093-R

Yoo-Seol Park et al. reveal differences in catalase activity among Erwinia amylovora strains, correlating with their virulence levels through well-known virulence factors, amylovoran, and type III secretion system effector proteins in E. amylovora: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-01-25-0010-R

Adam H. Sparks et al. investigated the genetic and phenotypic diversity and temporal evolutionary dynamics of Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens pv. flaccumfaciens in Australian mungbean fields. Learn more: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-01-25-0032-R

“Genomic Diversity of Microviridae Phage CLasMV1 in ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’,” by Fang Fang et al. Read the Short Communication to learn more: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-04-25-0133-SC

Shuxian Li et al. present the first demonstration of the effects of the elicitors chitin and laminarin on inducing resistance in soybean against Phakopsora pachyrhizi infection. 🫛 Learn more: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-02-25-0079-R

Information presented by Srushtideep Angidi et al. will guide breeding efforts to improve basal stalk rot resistance and facilitate prioritizing highly resistant lines for genetic mapping and further characterization. Learn more: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-05-25-0193-R

Although Clavibacter bacteria are important pathogens in agriculture, there is limited understanding of their virulence factors and their interactions with host plants. In Woong Park et al. present the specific features of eight Clavibacter species: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-02-25-0084-IA

“RNA-seq Reveals Differential Responses in Vitis vinifera Cultivars Protected by Distinct Biocontrol Agents Against Neofusicoccum parvum Bt67,” by Catarina Leal et al. Learn more: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-12-24-0399-R

Editor’s Pick! Silvia Minana-Posada et al. combined multiple approaches to investigate how the wheat pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici responds to and recovers from temperature shocks. Read the open access Editor’s Pick to learn more: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-02-25-0057-R

Do you work on seed-borne pathogens? Have a manuscript in the works? Consider submitting to the new Phytopathology Focus Issue! 🌱

Two distinct and clonal lineages of Phytophthora ramorum recently emerged in forests in the western United States. Nicholas C. Cauldron et al. provide novel insights into the invasion biology and dynamics of clonal plant pathogens in natural ecosystems: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-10-24-0329-FI

“Machine Learning Approaches for Predicting Fusarium Head Blight Epidemic Levels from Climatological Time Series Features,” by Rui Mao et al.: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-06-25-0221-FI

David Tsz Chung Chan et al. present a unified classification of the type III secreted effectors of bacterial plant pathogens to advance phytopathology research. Learn more: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-02-25-0055-FI

To address often cumbersome workflows for single metabarcodes, Martha A. Sudermann et al. developed demulticoder, an R package automating the use of DADA2 to analyze data derived from multiple metabarcodes: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-02-25-0043-FI

“Factor Analysis and Prediction of Disease Risk Based on Large Ensembles of Models: Application to Virus Yellows in Sugar Beet” by D. Chauvin et al.: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-01-25-0014-FI

Safer and smarter: Kaique S. Alves et al. demonstrate how an interpretation-guided modeling approach, leveraging complex ML primarily for insight generation, can overcome overfitting. Learn more: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-01-25-0008-FI

Just announced: Phytopathology is accepting manuscripts for the forthcoming focus issue, “Seedborne Pathogens: Risks, Research, and Resilience.” 🌱 Submit by June 15, 2026! Learn more about the scope and relevant topics: https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/seedbornepathogens

“Wow, many of the papers are highly cited and classic in the field. This will be useful site for students studying plant pathology and the history of the field.” —Jean Ristaino (North Carolina State University) Explore the virtual issue: https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/landmarksphyto

Aliyah Brewer et al. examined how phenotype error, inconsistency, and replication changed QTL magnitude and location. Learn more: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-01-25-0007-FI

“Understanding the Impact of Seasonal Weather Dynamics on Rice Disease Occurrence Using Neural Networks: A Case Study of Panicle Blast and Grain Rot,” by Jaehan Shin et al.: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-01-25-0004-FI

Join experts on the frontlines of nematode research TOMORROW at our live event. Learn how climate change is creating new nematode risks, and how to fight them with advanced detection tools and strategies. https://bit.ly/4o078L0 #plantpathology #nematology #agriculture #webinar

Amandeep Kaur et al. provide foundational insights into plasmid diversity in Xanthomonas euvesicatoria pv. perforans with implications for the role of these mobile genetic elements in genome dynamics and pathogen adaptation: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-02-25-0042-FI

Using public domain data, Mónica Higuita et al. performed an integrated analysis of the Passifloraceae virome, resulting in the identifications of six novel virus associations, six putative new viral specials, and more. Learn more: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-08-24-0269-FI

“Blackbird,” a high-throughput phenotyping device developed by Surya Sapkota et al., was found to outperform quantitative manual microscopy by experts in discerning a host resistance locus. Learn more: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-01-25-0033-R

Alexey Mikaberidze et al. review opportunities and challenges in combining optical sensing and epidemiological modeling. Read the open access article in the latest Phytopathology Focus Issue: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-11-24-0359-FI

Yutian Gao et al. present the first study to investigate and compare the proteomic characteristics of wheat plants under Fusarium crown rot (FCR), drought, and combined stress of FCR and drought using label-free quantitative proteomic analysis: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-11-24-0370-R 🌾

Stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici, is a major threat to wheat. Using a recombinant inbred line population from Lantian 10 × Mingxian 169, X. L. Zhou et al. mapped 6 stable QTLs for resistance on chromosomes. Learn more: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-04-24-0118-R

“The PDZ Domain-Containing Protein Prc Is Involved in Virulence and Stress Tolerance in the Poplar Canker Bacterium Lonsdalea populi,” by Zexu Ming et al.: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-02-25-0066-R

Using F5 recombinant inbred lines from ‘JagR1097’ × ‘Jagger’, Yuzhou Xu et al. built a linkage map of single-nucleotide polymorphism markers to identify new QTLs for Fusarium head blight resistance and explore links to agronomic traits: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-03-25-0100-R 🌾

Anaerobic soil disinfestation (ASD) shows promise as a safer alternative to fumigants for managing Fusarium oxysporum in strawberries. James Littrell et al. showed that ASD effectiveness depends on amendment composition and soil texture: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-12-24-0423-R

Data from Anas Eranthodi et al. suggest that inclusion of pea in a cereal-based rotation may lead to increased incidence and severity of Fusarium avenaceum-associated head blight in the subsequent wheat crop in the rotation. Learn more: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-03-25-0120-R

Just published! Explore how AI, ML, and multiple 'omics approaches are driving new discoveries in plant pathology in the new Phytopathology Focus Issue, “From Chaos to Clarity: Deriving Meaningful Biology from Big Data in Plant Pathology." 👉 https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/toc/phyto/115/10

U. Bhatta et al. investigated the production of mycotoxins by different Fusarium species and isolates, as well as furanoterpenoid compounds produced by sweetpotato in response to Fusarium infection and wounding: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-01-25-0031-R

OK that is really cool 👀 immediately sending to my students! 🌱🧪 #PlantSci #EvoMPMI #MPMI